


dancing round the lies we tell

by starfleetbanana



Series: tumblr prompts [8]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Background Relationship, Future Fic, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mentions of Baltimore, POV Multiple, Past Abuse, Recreational Drug Use, Slight Canon Divergences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-15
Updated: 2017-01-15
Packaged: 2018-09-17 11:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9321017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starfleetbanana/pseuds/starfleetbanana
Summary: tumblr prompt: How the foxes see andrew + neil?Each fox's perspective on Neil and Andrew's relationship.





	1. 05, Aaron Minyard, Backliner

**Author's Note:**

> this was so really fun and interesting to write and yes, i really fucking hate aaron lmao. most of the chapters are around 1k or a little less than 1k so they're short but leaving it as a one shot confused me lmao. i'm pretty sure all of these are center around the foxes relationship w each of them + baltimore/them finding out because ????
> 
> also the numbers are all over the place for the drama™.
> 
> * **I accidentally posted this without finishing it so if you saw it before it's because it was up for like 2 minutes lol.**

In retrospect, he should’ve known. Of course he should’ve known because it was obvious if he thought about it. Perhaps he’d been trying to ignore it because it was unsettling. He’d never liked Neil and then Andrew, who’d been trying to protect him his entire life in the weirdest way possible had fucking dared leave him alone again. Aaron felt betrayed, not because he genuinely cared about his twin brother driving him everywhere, but because he was trying and he knew Andrew was trying too, however cryptic and weird it seemed.

He hated thinking about how Andrew’d saved him from an abuser, but had become a monster in the same way Tilda was, except he didn’t really hit him. It was more or less the intent of his actions. He did everything he could to keep him restrained and Aaron couldn’t deal with that because the nights they spent in Columbia weren’t enough, because Exy didn’t mean much to him anyway. He was trying and Neil had ruined it all.

It’d started almost quietly, in the way Andrew’d decided to protect Neil because that meant keeping Kevin safe and at the end of the day though Andrew cared about every single one of them, Kevin was fun, something he’d never feel again next to Aaron.

Aaron got it, or he thought he got it. His drugs made him stupid and he thought someone like Neil Josten was a fun thing to play with. No, he didn’t get it. Neil was uninteresting, rude, weird and annoying. He indirectly asked for attention all the time and was too confrontational.

He cared about his brother, he really did, but then again it was hard to truly be comfortable with their relationship when it felt like nothing. It wasn’t forced at all, but it could’ve felt more real whenever Andrew talked to him and instead chose to say the wrong thing. He cared enough to fix his mistakes with dust and a night at Eden’s Twilight, but it became less and less reassuring to see Neil have a place in his brother’s life, a place he should have had because he mattered more than tckingufhat asshole did.

But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself he could mean as much as Neil did to Andrew he realised it was impossible. Aaron wouldn’t stand up for anyone because his priorities were different, Aaron wouldn’t have defended Andrew from people’s stupid comments because he knew Andrew didn’t care, Aaron wouldn’t have asked, he wouldn’t have tried in the first place because he knew Andrew’d never give him the right to make a choice for him.

And yes, Andrew’d killed Tilda to keep him safe and he’d killed Drake because of how much it burnt within him to see such an awful thing in front of his eyes. All of his brother’s issues unraveling.

It wasn’t a way to pay back for all of Andrew’d done, it was pure adrenaline and fear and hate going through him despite how little Andrew seemed to care. He knew he fucking cared, he had to, but then again all he could do was hold onto the racquet and stare at the corpse and the bloody sheets and Andrew’s body and Neil’s hands. It didn’t matter if he’d meant to or not, getting rid of Andrew’s abuser meant much less than what Neil was doing to keep him safe and at the same time, too much. Aaron was simply too little or too much to be considered someone Andrew needed.

Neil was always there guessing what Andrew needed even if when he made sure everyone around him believed he had no needs. It wasn’t fair, but Aaron wasn’t truly trying anymore either. The drugs had always stopped him from getting too close to Andrew, and now it was the abuse he’d survived and gone through for years that kept them away from each other.

His brother went away and Neil tried to fix it even though it wasn’t his place. Aaron didn’t feel ready either way, he knew Andrew was sure he needed to be kept under surveillance because he couldn’t take care of himself and he was right.

When Andrew was back things changed. They were closer and it was overwhelming because he didn’t want to see it, but it was right there in front of his eyes. It made him feel sort of guilty that he was unable to perceive what was truly going on between them. Whatever it was though, Neil felt the right to make decisions for Andrew and confront him about their inexistent relationship when Andrew refused to even acknowledge Aaron’s existence because of Katelyn.

Neil had a reason to feel like that and though he never saw anything, he got it. He didn’t want to see it anyway, it was a fucking joke.

He couldn’t understand his brother acting the way he was after Drake, he couldn’t understand why he cared about someone as awful as Neil Josten, a no one, who messed everything up just so they could win. The world shouldn’t work like that, but in Baltimore it was so fucking obvious he’d had to look away when his brother fought everybody to be able to inspect Neil’s wounds.

Neil had spent time with the ravens to keep Andrew safe, he hadn’t said a thing about the Wesninski circle to protect every single of them but Aaron didn’t feel guilty about how disgusted he felt when he saw them leaning on each other’s touch. He felt something heavy in the pit of his stomach sinking and pulling him down, down, down, until he couldn’t manage to swallow without feeling nauseous. That piece of shit probably thought Andrew was easy to manipulate because he’d been abused, he was a fucking liar and he was worth nothing, but none of that changed anything because at the end of the day Andrew still preferred him.


	2. 08, Nicholas Hemmick, Backliner

Nicky had never learnt how he was supposed to feel about Neil. For starters, he didn’t trust him, but he was hot, which kinda balanced it out anyway. The foxes were boring and seeing Neil Josten was something worth looking forward to, he was the change they needed. Spending time with him was almost like a fucking adventure and yes, he completely regretted the kiss and the drugs but he’d never apologised and it wasn’t as if Neil would ever be okay with it. Boundaries, yes, he forgot them sometimes.

Now Andrew and Neil were... unexpected. Nothing Andrew did was predictable, of course, and he didn’t know Neil enough to dare say he was going to make the right decision, except he chose to trust he’d always help him when it came to Andrew. In some way their relationship was pretty much benefitial to him, even more so when he moved to another room leaving more than half of his belongings in Andrew’s room so he’d have something to come back for to interrupt them. He didn’t want to be disrespectful, but their secrecy was really fucking annoying and it was getting to him. It wasn’t fair.

Okay, maybe he did want to be disrespectful because he couldn’t believe it and he needed proof. For some reason he felt entitled to know every little detail even when neither Andrew or Neil had ever trusted them with anything. He knew about the roof, though?

It came to a point where it was ridiculous but Nicky needed to know the details. Maybe not all the details, god no, Andrew was his cousin, but still, he needed some kind of information because it was killing him.

“So now you swing?” He asked Neil, and he simply shrugged in response because it was exactly what had happened, perhaps a little bit more conflicting. They were sitting on the benches, waiting for Kevin to decide to let Andrew go after the practice had ended.

Nicky asked mostly out of curiosity because he’d seen Neil being stupidly oblivious whenever someone flirted with him, but he had to recognise there was also a flash of worry in his actions because he didn’t want someone playing with his cousin’s feelings . God, it sounded so stupid because it was Andrew. But he’d been there, he’d come home for them and he wanted them to be safe.

“And you’re not into men?”

“No”

“Or anyone?”

“I’m into Andrew”

“Chill” He answered, not knowing exactly what to say in return without sounding even more confused. At least that piece of information seemed true, and it made him feel a little bit better considering at least Neil got Andrew to talk. He’d become a little bit more boring and domestic, sure, but then again they still got together to play video games and drown in whiskey.

From an outsider’s point of view -and that was key, he was an outsider, he had to keep reminding himself of that- it looked like a pretty weird relationship, considering they didn’t even hold hands in public. But Andrew was the kind of person who barely communicated his feelings, and by feelings he meant annoyance, through a limited amount of words.

It still was kinda surprising at the beginning though, when he’d had to pay Allison after Baltimore, seeing Andrew so close to Neil, both of them actually reassuring each other through touches and words and only for a second he stopped being annoyed and worried and felt grateful Andrew’d been able to find someone like Neil who, at the very least, knew exactly how to communicate with him and how to treat him when most of the world had no idea how they were supposed to feel about Andrew.

Maybe Neil didn’t make it clear he felt love toward Andrew, but Nicky could see whenever they where together Neil looked relaxed, calm, he looked okay. Maybe Neil didn’t feel like he’d ever be completely fine, but with Andrew it was obvious it felt pretty close to being content.

He smirked knowingly at them every time he saw them sitting way too close.


	3. 09, Renee Walker, Goalkeeper

Ever since Renee found her foster mother she’d felt lucky. She didn’t consider herself having been saved, but she’d managed to change her life and understand she needed something else to feel deserving, to feel like there was more than violence out there for her. She’d found a future at PSU, she’d found something that made her feel complete in religion, and another family within the foxes.

She didn’t like all of her teammates, but she tried to be a decent human being with all of them anyway, whether they respected her or not. She had her friends and her own life outside the assholes who objectified her in the court and thought she wasn’t strong enough. They didn’t know her past and she wasn’t willing to offer something as important as that to anyone in the team anyway, much less to some dickheads to prove she could break their necks in a second.

Renee Walker was the epitome of “kill them with kindness”, too full of love for the world and maybe too willing to consider everybody’s point of view before openly criticising and judging someone. That was probably the only reason why she’d managed to have multiple conversations with Andrew.

Everyone judged Andrew based on how he was a ‘psychopath’ and how he’d apparently killed people before but Renee didn’t care. She’d killed people to protect herself before too, she’d been deemed as problematic and too violent and impossible to save in the past and she’d payed for what she’d done anyway. She didn’t want to fix Andrew, but she wanted to let him know she was there in case he needed her.

Andrew saw her friendship as a challenge, even more so when Renee managed to kick his ass every time they sparred, but it became more meaningful the moment she gave him her knives without telling him to control himself. Renee trusted him despite what everyone else had to say and she was glad Andrew made ironic jokes about it and laughed at her even when she knew that laughter wasn’t even close to anything positive in Andrew’s head and his brain was foggy because of his drugs. 

She knew, of course she knew from the very beginning how Neil Josten was affecting Andrew’s life, from the very first time Andrew’d wanted to punch him in the face to the one where he’d decided he wanted to keep him by his side because suddenly he was interesting.

Andrew didn’t need to talk openly about it for her to guess and understand Neil Josten was an enigma for everyone but Andrew. Perhaps it was because he knew the truth, or maybe because Neil was easy to understand for someone as hyper aware as Andrew was.

She tried to talk to him about it multiple times, hinting at words she didn’t want to say out loud in case Andrew told her to fuck off. Cryptic conversations, Allison said, but it was just a big ridiculous metaphor to refer to the way Andrew’s world seemed to be constantly shifting around him ever since Neil became part of his life.

Whatever Andrew meant by “He isn’t fucking real” Renee wanted him to know he could be real if Andrew let himself see.

Andrew and Renee had too much in common for her to dismiss the way Andrew’d become even more defensive when Neil was there. He laughed, high on meds and riding his mania by playing Exy and fighting everyone around him and she could see Neil never flinched.

Neil probably didn’t like her, it was obvious that he didn’t exactly trust her because he thought she was hiding something behind all she had to give to the world and her so called innocence. Renee didn’t see herself as innocent at all, but she understood Neil had known enough people in his life that’d harmed him to believe no one could truly have good intentions. Renee still tried to talk to him, mostly for Andrew’s sake.

It was sort of fun to see their relationship develop. Neil asked things about Andrew no one else asked without even noticing why he did so. Fuck, he even thought they were together, and Renee hadn’t laughed hysterically because she was polite. She hadn’t told him she was gay too, because that would’ve made his conversation with Andrew anti-climatic. She respected drama even though she didn’t like causing it.

They got closer to her and Andrew grew more and more comfortable with Neil knowing things about him. Neil was no longer afraid of looking for conversations with Renee even when he was a little defensive about it, but he was willing to trust her if only a little bit to understand Andrew.

“They’re fucking” Allison whispered eyeing them cautiously from her seat on the bus. Renee stifled a laugh and Allison focused her gaze on her, “Tell me the truth. I’m betting for this shit, they’re betting for you and Andrew”

“Not fair, sorry, can’t take a side” Renee answered getting more comfortable in her seat and waiting for Allison to go back to her initial position, looking at the front of the bus instead of at Neil and Andrew’s seats on the back.

“Renee I trust you not to like that freak”

“Not a friend, plus you know he’s not my type” She said, trying to keep her voice low so no one

The conversation ended right there and five minutes later Renee was reading a book her stepmum had sent her and Allison was playing a game on her phone.

Unlike the others she didn’t need to see Neil’s recovery after Evermore, she didn’t even need to see Andrew’s behaviour after Baltimore or examine the way Neil had blindly trusted him despite all the things he was hiding.

Andrew wasn’t the only one who was in dangerous territory when he’d kissed Neil for the first time. The roof wasn’t a romantic place, it was a place for the kind of silence they both needed to forget the shit they had to face once they went down the stairs. Unlike the others, Renee didn’t have to be told twice that Andrew meant much more than a weapon of mass destruction and a lifeline to Neil.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Renee Walker's a lesbian who's in love with Allison, thank you.


	4. 07, Allison Reynolds, Defensive Dealer

Neil Josten was interesting when it came to bets. He was unpredictable, but he was also annoying and kind of a selfish piece of shit. Gosh, she wanted to help but the guy didn’t even talk to her without getting all defensive about his awful clothes and his bag.

Allison didn’t understand how someone could survive with so little, but she was a fox, people were fucked up.

He’d made her win bets a fair amount of times during their first semester and he’d managed to make the foxes plays a little bit better encouraging them via Kevin freaking out because of Neil’s fuck ups.

Beside that she didn’t have much of an opinion on him. Neil was good looking, oblivious, annoying, like half the people in the team.

Oh, and he’d managed to get Seth Gordon killed.

It took her a long time to realise it hadn’t been his fault, because whatever happened Seth was a time bomb, and Riko’d seen he was nothing but a nuisance for the team. She didn’t like how it sounded but the truth was ugly, and Bee had a lot of harsh things to say about coping with death.

She knew it was Andrew’s fault somehow too because he couldn’t contain the fucking drama queen that Kevin was. Andrew was a dog whose owners were too stupid to realise he was not only barking but also biting, and hard. Apparently, Neil, who wasn’t even supposed to be a part of the monsters managed to keep him under control if he said the right thing.

It was impressive, because Neil wasn’t even trying and Andrew was listening, Andrew was waiting for whatever he had to ask to give him the response he thought was clever.

Neil Josten was also really fucking stupid. Not only because he had too much to say, but also because he was the self-sacrificing kind of guy. She didn’t want to care, she didn’t want to have to see, but Neil was her friend, or at least they were trying to be friends and their weird friendship was helping her heal. Fuck no, she did not need to heal. It was just that Neil was bad at people because he couldn’t trust anyone.

Neil’s secrecy was so exaggerated to the point she’d even celebrated when he told them what his favourite colour was. Andrew’s, on the other hand, was something she was grateful for because she couldn’t deal with that psycho.

She didn’t understand Neil and Andrew’s relationship because it was ridiculous to her eyes. Neil was free to choose whoever to befriend but he’d chosen that fucking monster, who’d killed his own mother and whose violence was out of hand. It wasn’t like Seth had been the most passive person in the world, but Neil risking his own safety just to be friends with Andrew for some protection in return seemed off to her. He was dangerous, and Neil didn’t want to listen.

There were more reasons why Neil didn’t want to listen though. Apparently, it had to do with kisses and road trips and drugs and Eden’s Twilight and she fucking swore she didn’t get it. It was only a suspicion anyway, but the way they’d gone from mortal enemies to fucking talking in German in front of the foxes who couldn’t speak it for privacy’s sake unnerved her.

Neil was careless, he was oblivious as hell, but whenever Andrew did the tiniest thing he noticed it and she could see him thinking of Andrew’s words and understanding every little thing he said. They even had inside jokes and they disappeared together all the time. Of course it had to include getting laid because she was sure that was the only way anyone would stand any of them for so many hours a day.

There was a bet. It was a simple bet, and she was sure Renee and Andrew would never be an item because she knew Renee was into girls. Of course she could’ve been bi, or pan, but no, she knew Renee’d spent too many hours ‘praying the gay away’ at the beginning to feel less guilty about it.

The bet was basically Renee and Andrew versus Andrew and Neil only because Allison couldn’t understand if it was more than something physical. None of them liked hugs and casual touches so she thought maybe they were kind of touch starved and it made sense? They didn’t make sense, but angry sex did.

She’d failed to see it was much more than that. But she saw it exactly the same way everyone else did, in Andrew’s black eye and the angry marks around his handcuffed wrist. In Nathaniel’s- no, in Neil’s watery eyes and his unwillingness to let go.

There was another bet as soon as they were back in fox tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get me wrong, I love Allison with my heart but she sees Andrew as a monster just bc he's mentally ill and im :):):):)::)):)


	5. 04, Matt Boyd, Backliner

Matt gasped, he fucking gasped as soon as he opened the door because there had been no response to his knocking. He didn’t see anything inappropriate but it still felt as if he wasn’t supposed to see any of it.

Everybody knew already and he wasn’t stupid. He was a little bit upset because Neil hadn’t trusted him enough with that but, apparently, Neil had had a lot of things to hide and at least now he was trying to stop lying unnecessarily.

“Shit, sorry” Matt said, pressing his lips into a tight line. Andrew didn’t even acknowledge him as he helped Neil into a loose t shirt, making sure the fabric didn’t touch any of his wounds. He was being so careful it looked unsettling. It was a sight. Matt knew better though.

“It’s fine” Neil mumbled under Andrew’s scowl. Matt had no idea how the hell they communicated without saying much out loud, but at least he didn’t have such a low opinion on Andrew anymore.

They weren’t friends and he knew Andrew’d never truly like him but he could stand his presence and Andrew wasn’t that awful when he was clean. He was glad Neil had found someone he could be comfortable with all the time and who sort of understood what was hard for him. It reminded him of all of the times Neil didn’t know how to react to Matt’s actions or words.

“Are you feeling better?” He asked once Neil was seated and Andrew was gone. He looked uncomfortable, probably because his entire body still hurt. It was stupid to ask but he was worried. Neil was his best friend, and though he knew he would’ve never been able to really protect him from an entire criminal circle he was a boxer. He’d at least fight a fair amount of people for his best friend.

“I’m fine” Neil answered automatically, “A lot of things hurt and I’m sticky all over because Andrew got some kind of numbing cream” He corrected himself. He attempted to inspect his nails because talking about it made him anxious, but he stopped himself a second after he tried to move his fingers.

“Neil” Matt started. He wanted to hug him, he wanted to pet his hair and let him know the world could be a nice place to people like them. He knew Neil guessed things were going to be fine as long as he had a name and some place to call home. He wanted to talk about so many things just because he was legitimately scared of losing his best friend, “You know you can trust me with anything, right?” He sighed, “It sounds really fucking overwhelming and probably I wouldn’t have known what to say knowing you were a part of that mess, but the rest of things, I’m cool with. I need you to know that”

“I know”

“I love you a lot, dude. ‘M glad you don’t need to hide anymore” Matt said. He wanted to reach for him so bad but he knew Neil couldn’t even move without flinching and hissing in pain, “I’ve no idea how the fuck you’re gonna sleep with all of that though”

“Pain meds”

He spent half an hour making sure Neil was comfortable in his clothes and he didn’t need anything else, waiting for Andrew to get back because he knew he wouldn’t leave him alone.

There were too many things to think about in the dark, even after Aaron and Nicky got kicked out of Andrew’s room to make room for Neil who needed quiet and Andrew’s care. Matt also wanted to be there for him, but he understood vulnerability was something Neil hated and only offered to Andrew. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Matt, it was just that Matt didn’t know how to treat him quite the right way when he had nightmares or whenever he was having a bad day.

“ _ _glad andrews there to take care of u also not to be that kinda guy but i feel a lil betrayed bc deets?? sleep well bro”__

He pressed send and let himself relax a little bit more.

Neil was safe.

He believed most of his teammates were sure he hated Andrew because of what he’d done in his first year and because of his addiction, but Andrew couldn’t control any of that and it was Matt’s responsibility to stay away from addicts to stay clean. He’d done something awful, yeah, but then again his mother had wanted to help him somehow too and he was fine now.

In a way, he was privileged in comparison to the other foxes because he was able to see how Andrew and Neil showed they cared for each other. He saw Neil’s tiny smile when he said he was going to the roof and how happy it made him to see Andrew playing Exy with a reason, whatever that reason was.

Neil and Andrew both had rough and sharp edges and next to one another it was obvious no one could touch them.

A few weeks later he thought how weird it was getting used to seeing Andrew helping Neil into his hoodie and zipping his jacket up. It made him happy too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted him to say sth along the lines of 'bro id die for u ilu bro' but i managed to make it seem less ridiculous? lol


	6. 01, Dan Wilds, Offensive Dealer

Dan had always believed in Neil’s potential, ever since his arrival even after she understood there was no way to get any information out of him about anything that wasn’t Exy. He was extremely passionate about the sport, which she was grateful for given that they needed to get better after they’d been practically destroyed by everyone last season, but as a Captain she wasn’t satisfied.

Her role meant she had to have some sense of control over her team, even when half of it decided they couldn’t be a part of the group. She needed to know the basic details to know how to talk to them as a friend, and to know their game to make things work in court.

It didn’t matter as much as she thought it would though, because Neil’s love for Exy seemed almost unbelievable. She could compare it to Kevin’s obsession with it, but it was different. Kevin was all technique and hard work when Neil was evidently in need of experience and time to calculate his next plays.

Basically, she needed her team to work and Neil Josten wasn’t exactly the kind of person who’d give her whatever she wanted. She was lucky though, since for some unknown reason Neil had decided he didn’t need to choose between the monsters and the upperclassmen and at the end of the day she knew something would come out of it.

Beside all the drama that surrounded Neil Josten on live television, there was the sort of courage she didn’t understand, mainly because she had no idea of what each of the monsters had gone through and why they acted the way they did, particularly Kevin and Andrew.

Neil was brave, but he was also a liar.

There was something particular about Neil’s lies that didn’t make her feel threatened. She wouldn’t agree with him by saying it was because he cared or because he needed to protect them, they knew how to run and defend themselves, nevertheless Neil’s truth didn’t make her feel betrayed. It was more like having a weight lifted from her shoulders.

Neil Josten was full of lies, fake names, a history of abuse and death and running away, and though it was all new information she wasn’t sure it changed anything. She’d started seeing Neil as a friend at some point and maybe that belief had made her a little bit softer but she wasn’t one to lose people. She wouldn’t let the FBI take him away from them and she’d fight to keep him safe.

Maybe Baltimore had meant she’d lost a bunch of money to Allison, again, and a little bit of shock at the beginning, but it’d also meant knowing Neil Josten trusted her too, and that meant the world to her.

Neil didn’t believe they were close to the point where he’d text her every day to ask about her day like he and Matt did after their graduation, but Dan cared enough to give him a call once in a while and Neil always answered. They talked mostly about their jobs, Neil having gone pro, and Dan working as a Coach for university teams and about cats and the rest of the upperclassmen that Neil still called upperclassmen for some reason.

It wasn’t a perfect life, she was sure, but Neil had a house he shared with Andrew she’d been to once before -it was surprisingly cozy-, two cats, and maybe too many scars to bear for the kind of life he was trying to live. People would always stare at him and ask stupid questions about the Minyard Josten rivalry, they’d ask about the black Maseratti and all the pet hair on his clothes and Neil seemed just fine with that.

“Dan! Skype call, come say hi!” Matt shouted from their bedroom, repositioning himself on the bed so Neil would be able to see her too.

“Fuck, Matt, don’t shout, Andrew’s asleep” Neil answered while Dan made herself a little more comfortable.

“A fucking sight” Dan sighed. She had no idea why Neil decided skyping on bed with one of his cats sitting on the keyboard of his laptop was a good idea, but she laughed when Neil turned the camera toward Andrew for a second to show them King Fluffkins sleeping on Andrew’s chest, “Hey, congrats on that 8-0, it was impressive even for him”

“He’s asleep, can’t say a thing. And if I were to tell him you congratulated him he’d probably let everyone score just out of spite” Neil said with a smile in his voice. It was weird to see that, but it made her realise Neil’s life wasn’t any different from theirs.

Andrew Minyard would always be impossible for her though.

“Fuck off, Josten” Andrew said in a sleepy voice from the other end.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was kinda hard because i got tired of using Baltimore so much lol.


	7. 02, Kevin Day, Striker

Stepping into the court thinking of defending the title of his country made his stomach twist. He wasn’t anxious, he knew there was no other team better than his, but seeing his team around him always reminded him a little bit of Riko’s perfect court. The tattoo on his cheekbone burnt for a second making his eye water a little.

Jean, Kevin, Neil, and Andrew were indeed a perfect thing together, but Riko’d been wrong all along, there was no number one, there were just different positions to fill, plays to come up with and games to win. Together.

The perfect court would’ve never been perfect because kings are selfish rulers. Queens, on the other hand, could manage with the exactitude a boy blinded with power couldn’t have.

The US team had won gold twice already, not without a fight. They had excellent players and the problem wasn’t in their game, the problem was in the attitude of the players. There were familiar faces, including the so called queen’s perfect court and Jeremy Knox and Torres. Kevin was pretty sure all of them hated him and he couldn’t blame them, mostly all of them were assholes, but they were good players.

The biggest problem he had wasn’t within the team though, it was once they had to sit down and talk to reporters and basically anything that had to do with the media, including photoshoots, interviews, running into your least favourite reporter in your pyjamas in a seven eleven, or answering calls because you’d posted that one picture on instagram and Exy fans had wild theories of what you were doing and what team was trying to buy you next.

Now Neil Josten had always had a big mouth and he never let people interrupt him, not even when they tried to get him to sign with the Foxes in the stupid town they’d gone to solely to find __him.__ Oh, Neil Josten had a lot of things to say, but he’d learnt to react in a more silent way whenever he was representing his country, at least.

“How do you feel about reuniting with the perfect court?” Had been the first question they’d asked during their first press conference. Neil had laughed for an entire minute until everyone was silent and had left the room with Kevin in tow.

This time it was “How does it feel to be the token gay Exy player?” to Andrew and, as expected, Andrew hadn’t said a thing. Neil, on the other hand, had disconnected all microphones before getting out of there.

Kevin had told him from the very beginning being a gay athlete wasn’t going to be easy and he still thought so. He’d never cared about what they did as long as they weren’t public or, when they shared a dorm room, disrespectful.

They asked him what he thought of their reactions then, and Kevin directed the questions to their future plans as a team to get the press done with. It was overwhelming, but at least they’d stopped asking questions about his past that made him feel sick to his stomach.

And the thing was, Kevin really did not care about whatever they fuck they chose to do whether they were together or not, because even if they kept saying he was obsessed with Exy and they called him “exy racquet fucker” whenever they had the chance to, they were part of the queen’s perfect court.

**Author's Note:**

> any kind of feedback is appreciated & thanks for reading. find me @ minycrdjcsten on tumblr for more prompts or w/e.


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